


Operation Holiday

by SmolPidge



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, also pidge makes crappy costumes, and no one knows what a fire hazard is apparently, even Keith, if you wanna see Coran in a bunny suit this is the fic for you, the team are dorks, there's some angst involved though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 14:31:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11602587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolPidge/pseuds/SmolPidge
Summary: After Zarkon's defeat and Shiro's disappearance, a mourning Team Voltron, with no current plans for the universe's future, decide to take a break and use this brief period of peace to celebrate everything they've missed on Earth in a rather unorthodox manner. In other words, Keith is salty about everyone having fun as they try to recreate Earth holidays.





	1. Operation Holiday

**Author's Note:**

> This was made for the Voltron Gen Mini Bang on Tumblr. My partner, ruoqin, has graced us with amazing art for this fic, but alas, I have literally 0 clue how to embed it onto here so I'll just link it at the bottom so you can all see. Thanks in advance for the suppport.

Shiro was gone and there was nothing they could do to fix that. There was no trace, no clue, and nobody to give them the closure they needed. On the bright side (if there ever was one), for as long as they didn’t know what had become of him, they could still retain the hope that he was out there somewhere. Now all the team needed to do was come up with a game plan.

_So why is no one saying anything?_

Lance mulled over this question in his head. Sure, the better question would be why _he_ hadn’t just broken the silence himself, but he couldn’t quite find an answer to that either. Even Allura had been left speechless, leaving only Coran to mutter a couple words to direct the paladins into the command center in order to discuss matters and future strategy. Still, nobody had actually begun any sort of conversation and thus the room remained in complete quiet. It seemed that even if Zarkon was no longer an obstacle, none of it mattered if Shiro wasn’t there to celebrate with them.

“How long have we been fighting, exactly?” Keith suddenly asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had befallen them.

Fiddling with the strands of his headband, Hunk commented, “Not sure, but it feels like forever.”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed, stretching out his legs as he often did when he was restless. “What day is it anyway?” Truthfully, he wasn’t all that interested in the date, but he didn’t want to let the conversation end there when it had just begun.

“November? I don’t know…” Hunk guessed. “Pidge probably does, though.”

Pidge shook her head. “I haven’t been keeping track, surprisingly enough.”

“Here, let me find out for you,” Coran said, suddenly standing up and scampering over to input something into one of the screens as if he had been waiting for an excuse to move all along. It seemed that he had been just as determined as Lance to avoid the quiet once more. Just seconds later he announced, “On Earth, the current date is February 23rd.”

“No way!” Lance sprung up in disbelief. “There’s no way we’ve been gone for that long. It’s been nearly five months!”

Keith, on the other hand, appeared not to mind the news. Then again, Lance couldn’t recall him ever mentioning anything about himself back on Earth.

“Dude, we missed Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s, my birthday…” Hunk trailed off as he realized how many events they had been absent for.

Pidge merely lowered her head and murmured, “Mom must be worried…”

Upon hearing that, Lance’s thoughts drifted back to his own small house and the large family that remained on Earth. There wasn’t a day that passed by when he didn’t think of them, but knowing he’d been gone for that long made him miss them even more. He wished he could somehow make a call or send a letter, but he knew that that wasn’t possible at the moment. They had bigger things that needed to be taken care of.

Even so, he wanted to do _something_. Something to lift the mood, to keep them going for the time being. They had defeated ZARKON for goodness’ sake! Sure, Shiro wasn’t with them, but that alone deserved its own celebration, no? A hundred years from now, there could even be an interplanetary holiday marking their grand victory!

_Holiday…_

“I’ve got an idea!” Lance exclaimed, snapping his fingers for dramatic effect. “Before we get back to all of this ‘ _defending the universe’_ stuff, we should dedicate a couple days to catch up on everything we weren’t on Earth for!”

“What do you mean?” Pidge prodded.

“We’ll celebrate every holiday we’ve missed – hell even those we haven’t yet – during these next few days. We’ll make food, dress up, decorate, give gifts, and all of that jazz,” Lance explained, now pacing back and forth as he came up with more and more ideas.

The suggestion made Hunk and Pidge brighten up considerably, distracting them from their previous gloominess.

“Lance, now is not the best time–” Allura tried to argue, but Lance interrupted her before she could continue.

“Why not? We just defeated Zarkon, right? I understand that we have a whole universe to liberate but if they’ve waited this long, could a couple days really hurt? It’s not like we have a plan yet.”

“That’s why we should be using this time to develop one,” Keith countered. “Zarkon may be gone, but the Galra won’t fall so easily. On top of that, we have no idea how we’re going to form Voltron now that Shiro is gone.”

The mood deflated once more at the mention of their lost leader. No one had really brought it up since they had discovered the empty black lion, but no one could deny that it was an issue that they couldn’t dance around forever.

Lance wasn’t about to give up, though. “I know that, but we’re all tired. We’ve barely had any time to sleep, we’ve been drifting in space forever, and we miss home. You can’t really expect us to get right back to fighting and strategizing after everything that’s just happened, do you? This’ll be good for us. _All of us_.”

“We’ll have time to celebrate when this is all over and we get to go back home,” Keith insisted.

Before he could stop himself, Lance retorted, “Can you really guarantee that we’ll last until then?”

Lance hated the thought of never getting to see Earth again, but the truth was that it was very much possible. He had always known that the fight would be tough and dangerous, but it wasn’t until Shiro disappeared that it truly dawned on him that he might not survive the ordeal. This idea of his seemed like the best way to give themselves a little boost of enthusiasm given the circumstances, and he wasn’t going to back down easily.

“We might not make it back,” Lance continued, relaying the sad truth. “So while we’re still here, I want us to enjoy ourselves just this once.”

“Lance may be right,” Allura piped up. “I’d do anything to get a piece of Altea back, but it’s far too late. I wouldn’t want to be the one to deprive you all of this opportunity.”

“Besides, this’ll be a good team bonding exercise,” Coran added. “I think one of those is certainly overdue.”

“I call dibs on Halloween!” Pidge instantly called out, not bothering to wait for any further approval. “I’m sure there must be a few things around here that I can use to make costumes and I can try to find some candy somewhere.”

“Oh, oh, in that case I wanna do Christmas!” Hunk excitedly chose. “I can try making a new dish and we can decorate a pole or something.”

“Done and done,” Lance approved. “Meanwhile, I’ll do a 4th of July type of thing. Except instead of being focused on America, I’ll do it based on the entire planet!”

“What about you, Coran?” Pidge asked.

“Me?” he questioned, pointing a finger at himself. “I’m afraid I’m not particularly familiar with modern Earth tradition.”

“Why don’t you do Easter then?” Lance suggested.

“Easter?”

“On Easter, a bunny leaves eggs filled with candy outside for children to find,” Lance described. “Think you’re up for that?”

“I’ll have to do some more research, but it _does_ sound interesting… Why not?”

“Great!” Lance pumped his fist in the air. He could already feel the anticipation rising up inside of him. “Allura? Wanna try your hand at Valentine’s?”

“Actually…” the princess hesitated, “would it be alright if I chose an Altean holiday? It’d be nice to celebrate the Altean New Year again…”

“Sure, go ahead! Now, Keith has some limited options, but-”

“I’ll pass,” Keith curtly cut him off.

“Hm?”

“You guys can play around all you like, but I’ll be busy training. Tell me when we actually do something useful.” With that, Keith sharply left the room.

“What a buzzkill,” Pidge muttered.

“Yeah,” Lance agreed. Internally, he hoped Keith would change his mind. He was sure everything would play out fine with just the five of them, but being together as a team was the whole purpose of the activities. “Guess we’ll just have to make do without him.”

“When do we start anyway?” Hunk asked.

“Day after tomorrow? That’ll give us the rest of today and tomorrow to prepare ourselves,” Allura suggested.

“Sounds like a plan,” Coran gave a thumbs up.

With a loud clap to conclude the meeting, Lance shouted, “Operation holiday is a go!”

[Ruoqin's Art!](https://whenisayvolyousaytron.tumblr.com/post/163388662582/operation-holiday-chapter-1-smolpidge)

(scroll down to bottom of post)


	2. Easter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coran decides to begin the Team Voltron holiday season in not the most reasonable way.

**Keith POV**

Keith was awoken by the castle’s alarm. Now much better prepared for these kinds of situations, he rapidly got out of bed and slipped into his paladin armor before rushing out to the command center. He didn’t know what could possibly be the emergency this time, but he couldn’t stop to think. The only thing on his mind was _how the hell they were going to handle it without Voltron_.

Shiro had spouted plenty of nonsense in regards to his desire for him to become leader should anything take him out of commission, but Keith wasn’t very convinced that he would be able to handle it. He couldn’t control anyone when they were all running around the day before, so why should now be any different? No matter; he’d just have to hope that the situation was dire enough to get them back on track.

Strangely enough though, no one was there to greet the team once they had all assembled. Even Allura seemed dumbfounded.

“What’s the meaning of this?” she demanded, looking at the rest as if they had a clue.

“Not sure,” Keith admitted. “But regardless, I told you so!”

“Huh?”

“Who knows what we’re up against, but if we had spent it training, we’d be better prepared for it!”

“Geez, chill,” Lance said in a hushed tone. “We still don’t know what activated the alarm and honestly? I don’t know about you, but I don’t see _anything_ out there.”

Having to make sure, Keith checked out the view for himself. Much to his chagrin, Lance was right; nothing seemed out of place. When they were floating in endless space, any sort of disturbance was painfully obvious. “Well, then who activated the alarm?”

“I did!”

Coran suddenly arose from the panel used to descend into the hangar where the black lion was held. He was striking a dramatic pose and smiling widely, but Keith had to try his hardest to stifle a giggle thanks to one little detail: the fact that he was wearing a big, white, and very fluffy bunny suit, equipped with a tail, ears, and even a cute bowtie. He had even gone through the trouble of painting whiskers onto his cheeks.

“You know that you didn’t have to go _that_ far, right?” Pidge didn’t last long before breaking down in laughter.

“What?” Coran puzzled. “This is what traditional earthlings wear at Easter, right? I even had the castle help me make it so that it’d be culturally accurate.”

With mouth covered and tears beginning to well up, Lance responded, “Yeah, maybe if you’re gonna show up at a preschool.”

“Oh…” Coran’s ears drooped. Keith wasn’t sure what kind of physics caused it, but since it was Coran, he didn’t question it too much.

“Though to be fair, you _did_ do a good job on the costume,” Hunk comforted.

Hunk’s last comment cheered Coran right up. “Well, as long as I got that bit right, I’m satisfied. Now we can start the egg hunt!”

“Does this mean we _aren’t_ being attacked?” Keith burst, now fully recovered from his initial laughter. He was already sick of this whole celebration business and it hadn’t even begun yet.

“Oh, of course not,” Coran confirmed. “I just needed to get you all in one place without enough time to accidentally find any eggs.”

“Coran,” Allura gave him a stern look.

“I know, I know,” Coran apologized. “Won’t happen again.”

“Well, alright,” Allura sighed in resignation. “Where do we begin?”

“Wait, wait,” Keith interrupted. “If we’re not fighting anything, then I’m out.”

“Oh, c’mon, Keith don’t be a party pooper,” Pidge criticized. “Have some fun for once.”

Taking off his helmet, Keith felt his anger rise. “Right now, _fun_ equals _carelessness_. I’m better off keeping everything in check while all of you are busy wasting time.” He knew he was being unreasonable to a certain extent, but perhaps a harsher approach would convince them to drop their silly plans.

The team simply stared back at him, not bothering to argue, but also not willing to give in just yet. Figuring that he hadn’t won any converts, Keith turned heel and exited the room. The best he could do was wait out their little party and hope that it wouldn’t take long.

For all they knew, they next alarm might not be a false one.

* * *

 

**Pidge POV**

“Well I guess Keith’s out,” Pidge rolled her eyes. Didn’t he know that she and everyone else was just as worried as he was? Perhaps it was true that they were avoiding the issues they had to eventually tackle, but they needed time to recover. She was sure Keith needed that too, but he’d be too stubborn to ever admit that.

“Meh, we don’t need him anyway,” Lance shrugged, but Pidge could tell he had been a bit shaken. No matter how much he acted like he hated him, Lance was very obviously concerned. He’d be too stubborn to admit that too.

“We might as well get started, then,” Coran announced. “Rules are simple. Eggs are hidden all over the castle. Of course, each one has got some sort of prize in them, but the one who manages to get the most will get a special prize provided by yours truly.”

“What is it?” Hunk excitedly asked.

“It’s a surprise!”

“Darn.”

“There are some baskets lined up over by that wall for your disposal,” Coran pointed to the far corner. “Other than that, let Easter begin!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Pidge dashed for a basket, quickly picking up the closest one and rushing out the door, madly scoping for eggs. Figuring that they wouldn’t just be laying in the hallways, she decided to head for a cluttered room and check there (since most of the rooms were pretty minimalist). She settled on the teledub room, which housed lots of machinery where eggs could be hidden.

Sure enough, she immediately spotted one upon entering the room. It was stuck against one of the panels by a lever, so with a slight flick, it dropped into her awaiting hand. Since no one else seemed to be nearby, she also explored the rest of the room, finding another handful camouflaged among the teledub crystals and a few more among the rest of the machines.

Now that she had scoured the whole room completely, she began to wonder what kind of prizes the eggs contained. Pidge knew that she’d be wasting time by stopping to open one of them, but curiosity got the better of her (as usual). Quickly unscrewing the top, she dug her hand in and took out a small rectangular piece of paper.

_You’ve got to be kidding me._

The paper had Coran’s face printed in the center, kind of like George Washington’s would be on a dollar bill. _‘Coran Coupon’_ was the only thing written on the front, but it read, ‘ _May be redeemed for **one** goo-free dish.’_

“What a cop out!” she couldn’t help but exclaim aloud.

Even so, Pidge wasn’t ready to abandon the competition. No matter how unethical the prizes were, she aimed to win. Besides, the grand prize may actually be something worthwhile. With that hope in mind, she decided to move on to the next room. Before she could get there, though, Lance came out of nowhere and blocked her off.

“Hey, how about you and I team up?” Lance abruptly asked, wriggling his eyebrows.

“And why should we?” Pidge cockily replied, trying to find a way to get past him. Maybe if he didn’t have such fast reflexes or, more specifically, such _long limbs_ , she would’ve succeeded. Unfortunately for her, it seemed she wouldn’t be able to pass unless he let her.

“With the two of us combined, there’s no spot we can’t reach or search,” he continued.

“So what? You intend to split the prize?”

“Naturally,” Lance rolled his eyes. “I’m not a monster.”

“Then no thanks. That baby’s all mine,” Pidge concluded, attempting to get past him again since the conversation had ended, but in vain.

Lance wasn’t going to give in so easily. “You won’t be able to reach half the eggs in this castle.”

“I can climb.”

“Pidge, you and I both know that your physical abilities are a little, how should I say this…” Lance hesitated before finishing, “ _lackluster_.”

Did those words actually come out of your mouth?”

“What? Too offensive?”

“No, too sophisticated,” Pidge threw him off. Still, she took the time to observe his basket, which had more eggs than she did. Coran must’ve hid several in high places. “But I have to admit, you _do_ have a point there. It’s a deal.”

“Really? Didn’t think that would actually work,” Lance chuckled.

“Are we gonna get going or are you gonna wait until I change my mind?” Pidge threatened.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go."

* * *

 

Just as Lance had foreseen, he and Pidge made up for each other’s flaws and ended up coming on top. Hunk had found a good amount of eggs, and Allura had put up a good fight as well since she knew the castle better than anyone, but Pidge and Lance were by far the superior egg hunters thanks to their cooperative efforts.

“So what’s the grand prize?” Pidge pressed.

“Ah yes, the grand reveal!” Coran pretended to have forgotten. “Let me go get it!”

“What do you think it is?” Hunk asked as Coran left the room momentarily. “Maybe a cake?”

“I doubt it,” Allura murmured, still salty about her loss. “But I wouldn’t get your hopes up for anything good if I were you.”

Pidge had accepted that fact long ago, yet she kept holding on to that small glimmer of wishful thinking. Maybe Coran had thought of something that they’d actually enjoy for once.

Obviously, it seemed to be too much to ask because Coran reentered seconds later carrying a huge rectangle. It didn’t take long for everyone to guess what it was.

“Behold, the _Coran Coupon_ of all _Coran Coupons_!” he announced. Spinning it around, he showed off the back to display what it was redeemable for. It read, ‘ _Redeemable for **one** all-expenses-paid trip to The Fripping Bulogian!_’

“Gee, thanks,” Pidge sighed. As much as she loved him, she should’ve known better than to expect great things from Coran.

“I change my mind. You can have it,” Lance leaned down a bit and hissed into Pidge’s ear, backing away immediately afterwards.

“No way!” The last time they had been there, they’d had to fight too many aliens for her liking. Alas, Lance was already out of her reach.

“Well that’s about it for me,” Coran ended, finally beginning to take off his bunny costume. “Who’s next?”

“Oh, oh, me!” Pidge instantly forgot about her eventual trip that would undoubtedly end in disaster. She had surprised herself with the amount of effort she had put into this little project and she was eager to show it off to everyone else. “I’ll meet you guys at the training deck.” Not waiting for a reply, she scuttled off to make the final adjustments. Her Halloween preparations would certainly impress them.


	3. Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge uses the electric maze in a way that it was certainly not meant for.

**Hunk POV**

Pidge had certainly outdone herself with the decorations.

Cotton-like material lined the walls for a spider web effect, and the maze itself was covered in thick vines, probably Green’s. From some unknown location, the sound of wind and gentle rustling was being played over an eerie track. It was all so realistic that Hunk was almost convinced that he could feel a breeze.

The lights were dimmed enough that it was hard to see more than a few feet, so Pidge’s sudden _“Boo!”_ and jab from behind caused Hunk to give a quick yelp and bounce in surprise.

With a clap of her hands, the room lit up considerably to show Pidge wearing a black cloak and pointy hat made out of what looked like cardboard.

“Pidge, what are you wearing?” Allura scrutinized the poorly done outfit.

“It’s a costume,” Pidge explained, now a little embarrassed. “I’m supposed to be a witch but I didn’t get the chance to go all out like I normally would so I just threw this together…”

“Well, if you’ve ever laid eyes on Haggar you’d realize your depiction of a witch really missed its mark and-” Allura began before she stopped herself, realizing she was only taking her own perspective into account again. “Well, anyway, what do you have in store for us?”

Proudly, Pidge motioned over to the maze. “I set up a corn maze! Well, without the corn, so maybe it’s better off being called a vine maze. Then again, the vines are just _covering_ the maze so maybe that wouldn’t work either. Perhaps-”

“Your point is?” Lance tried to refocus Pidge.

“Oh. Well,” she continued, “you split into two groups of two and start from separate entrances. First one to get to the center gets a bucket full of candy!”

“Woah, woah, you managed to get some candy?” Lance was nearly salivating in anticipation.

Pidge shrugged. “Sort of. I went back to the space mall and found some, but half of it is alien and the other has been expired for a while. Do with it what you will, though.”

Hunk admitted that some candy sounded like a splendid idea, but he had never been much of a fan of Halloween. If not for the candy, he probably would’ve stayed home every year. Even then, the only way he’d leave the house was if he went with a large group of friends. Dwindling it down to one would certainly be an issue. Still, _candy_.

“Well, in that case, how about you and I get ourselves that bucket, Princess?” Lance winked.

“I think I’ll pair up with Hunk instead,” Allura shot him down.

“Me?” Hunk was surprised at her choice. He had nothing against the princess, but they rarely interacted. If anything, he thought her obvious choice would be Coran.

“We haven’t spoken since we discussed road trips. This is our chance to catch up,” she shrugged. Then, leaning closer to him she added, “Besides, Coran is absolutely horrid at these kinds of things and I haven’t had candy in ages.”

“In that case I’ll go with Lance,” Coran said, bringing the blue paladin closer to him in a show of comradery.

“In that case…” Pidge’s voice sounded from above.  The four had been too distracted discussing teams that they hadn’t noticed when she had scuttled off. It now seemed that she was at the post overlooking the training deck, but they couldn’t quite see her since the lights were dimmed down once more. “Each team take a different entrance and go!”

Before he could fully respond to the sudden instructions, Hunk’s arm was harshly pulled by Allura into the nearest entrance. “Hurry! Coran may be bad at these things but he has quite the sweet tooth!”

Hunk obediently followed, everything happening so quickly that he couldn’t do much else. It wasn’t until Allura eventually reached a dead end that she stopped.

“Quiznak,” she pouted, reluctantly letting go of Hunk and beginning to retrace her steps, caught up in her own thoughts and strategies.

Hunk was almost tempted to remind her that he was there and he could help, but once he wasn’t moving, he was reminded of how spooky everything looked. The eerie music was back up and he noticed that crude fake spiders and bats had been stuck between the vines upon closer inspection.

“I guess we’ll just go back until we reach a fork,” Allura finally announced.

“I guess that’s fine,” Hunk replied, not really seeing any better option.

They were just about to move again when a certain familiar laugh caught their attention. Looking up, Hunk couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Lance was _on_ the maze. He stood there triumphantly, basking in his self-supposed glory.

Coran soon joined him, a smile just as big as Lance’s plastered on his face. “Makes you wish you were on _my_ team, huh?”

“Hey, I was the one who came up with the idea!” Lance snapped.

“Details, details,” Coran brushed him off.

“What? No fair!” Hunk frowned.

“Pidge gave us the okay so…” Lance trailed off, enjoying his time in the spotlight.

“Seriously?!” Allura called out to Pidge, her hands balling up into fists as if she was getting ready to kick her ass.

“All’s fair when candy’s at stake~” Pidge chirped from somewhere overhead.

Much to Hunk’s surprised, the princess accepted the verdict and relaxed. Hunk hadn’t realized how much Alteans valued their candy.

“Coran?” she began. “How sturdy are the maze walls?”

“When fully materialized and with the electrocution function turned off, they probably most resemble wood in terms of thickness and overall strength,” he instinctively answered. If he had thought it through a little more he probably would’ve found the question strange, but he didn’t appear to have minded.

“Thanks,” Allura smirked. Hunk suspected she was already formulating a plan, but he didn’t let it show for fear that Lance would figure out his partner’s mistake. Then again, Lance could only pick up on these things if there wasn’t a pretty lady around so they’d probably be safe either way.

“Anyways, see you guys at the end of the rainbow!” Lance cheerily teased, immediately running off, careful not to trip on any of the vines in his path. Coran quickly followed, keeping up with his nimble movements.

Once they were out of earshot, Allura hissed, “Hunk, you’ll probably hate me after this but I need you to lay down perfectly straight. No moving.”

“What?”

“No time to explain, just do it!” Allura pressured, making herself much taller in the meantime.

Not ready to argue with her, Hunk did as he was told, nervously waiting until the princess shrunk to her normal size.

“I’ve got the general direction locked,” she murmured, rolling up her sleeves for whatever reason.

“Okay but why am I laying here, exactly?”

“Here’s why.” With one swift motion, Allura wrapped her arm around his torso and lifted him up with his feet facing the maze.

Before Hunk had time to resist, Allura slammed forward, easily using his weight to knock down the maze wall. Though it hadn’t really hurt, he couldn’t help but scream out of habit. The princess, however, took no notice of his panic and charged forward, using Hunk as a sort of battering ram. All Hunk could do was keep his body stiff; if it was loose he’d probably break something other than the maze walls.

“What the-” was all Lance got out before Hunk’s feet were smashed into the wall he was standing on. With a screech, he plummeted to the ground. Coran, on the other hand, had enough time to safely jump down on his own.

It didn’t really make a difference in the end, though. Within seconds of that moment, Hunk was set on his feet and Allura was holding the pot of candy triumphantly.

“I won~ I won~” she teased, swinging her hips from side to side, what Hunk could only guess was her victory dance.

“Okay, that was beyond cheating!” Lance angrily growled once he had picked himself up from the rubble and caught up.

“As I said,” Pidge tutted as she approached the group, “all’s fair when candy’s at stake.”

Hunk was still too shocked to do anything. At that point, he couldn’t care less about the candy. All he wanted was somewhere to sit and a cup of hot chocolate to calm his nerves.

Quickly composing herself once she realized how she was acting, Allura offered a piece of candy to Hunk, but he decided it would better be left for another day and instead handed it to Lance, who immediately abandoned his petty behavior and stuck it into his mouth. Sure, it only took seconds for it to come back up since it had expired a few years back, but he had been excited at the moment.

“How about Hunk goes next?” Allura suggested, obviously guilty about her brash behavior earlier. 

Still, Hunk couldn’t deny that he was ready to share the food he had prepared for the team. “Yeah, we can do that now.”

"Are we in for a feast?” Lance asked, trying to get the bad candy’s taste out of his mouth by drowning a glass of water Pidge had provided.

 “You betcha.”


	4. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk is the personification of Christmas if Christmas were sometimes passive aggressive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do a disservice to Hunk and don't come up with any good ideas until /after/ this fic is due. I'll probably come back and fix it at some point, but for now, this is the end result. I'll make it up to you somehow, my precious boi.

**Coran POV**

Coran was convinced his goo was the most nutritious and appropriate meal for a Voltron paladin, but upon seeing what Hunk had concocted, he could hardly stop himself from drooling right then and there. There was no way Hunk recognized any of the ingredients he had used, but it was obvious he had been practicing and had gotten the hang of which flavors work together and which ones don’t because everything was in perfect place.

“Let’s all dig in, shall we? Such good food can’t wait to be eaten for too long,” Hunk widely grinned, shamelessly praising his cooking.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Hunk rushed out abruptly only to come back carrying some boxes in his arms, each nicely decorated with bright duct tape.

Quickly realizing what this must mean, Lance widely smiled and exclaimed, “No way, you got us presents?!”

“Of course! What’s Christmas without them?” Hunk affirmed, beginning to pass the bundles around. “I only had some tape handy since it was in my pack and the presents are all kind of lame, but hopefully you guys won’t mind too much.”

“Well for starters, what are these?” Pidge asked, lifting up some random wires and other gadgets from her box, which she had opened instantly.

“I actually have no idea,” Hunk shrugged. “I just figured you’d find a use for them somehow.”

With a look of pure determination written upon her face, Pidge simply answered with, “Challenge accepted.”

Allura was next to open hers. “You got me something sparkly!” she squealed, gently slipping a jeweled bracelet around her wrist.

“Is this sand?” Lance stared into the small glass container he had been given while swishing it around a little.

“Right off the coast of Chile, according to the alien dude who sold it to me.”

“Neat!” Lance’s eyes glimmered in wonder.

Considering how well-tailored the other gifts had been, Coran opened his own with grand expectations. Would it be a new tool? A book perhaps? Maybe some new and modern tech he had missed out on for 10 thousand years? With such great anticipation, it was no wonder he reacted so strongly when it turned out to be a pile of ingredients.

Everyone’s attention suddenly focused on Coran as he indignantly exclaimed, “What is this supposed to mean?” With an angry shake, he spilled the contents of his box all over the table.

“I convinced the Galra at Vrepit Sal’s to give me them after teaching him a new recipe. I figured you could use them to cook up something other than food goo for once,” Hunk smirked. “I won’t always be around to make some decent food, after all.”

“Tch!” Coran muttered and grumpily picked up his mess. In his anger, he accidentally let slip, “This is why Lance is my favorite…”

“ _Lance_ , is your favorite?!” Pidge incredulously

“I’m _everyone’s_ favorite, Pidge,” Lance winked.

“And why wouldn’t _I_ be your favorite?” Allura aggressively questioned.

Realizing he had committed a grave error, Coran decided his best bet of making it out alive in this situation was to somehow appease the ladies. “Well, of course I meant after _you_ ,” he stuttered, not managing to sound very convincing.

Allura clearly didn’t believe him, and pouted, avoiding him.

“Look, _everyone’s_ my favorite, okay?” Coran tried to fix his mistake.

“Mhm,” Pidge sassed. “That’s a load of crap and everyone knows it.”

“Hey, hey,” Lance cut in. “Let the guy have his opinion.”

After lots of petty arguing and a quick end to a mini food fight between Pidge and Lance, Coran came up with a stupid, yet hopefully satisfactory solution.

“Here, what if Lance is my favorite on Mondays, Pidge is my favorite Tuesdays, Hunk on Wednesdays, Keith on Thursdays, and Allura on Fridays?”

They all looked at each other, paused, and nodded. Coran gave a sigh of relief. He didn’t actually think that would appease them, but he was glad it did.

“Well, if we’re done here, why doesn’t Lance go get ready?”

“Allura can go next. I want to be able to have the grand finale,” Lance said.

“Well, then, let’s head out shall we?”


	5. Altean New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura's favorite holiday suddenly becomes the worst.

**Allura POV**

Allura walked down from the dining room in a bittersweet mood. Although she had thoroughly enjoyed herself whilst preparing for her New Year’s festivities, she hadn’t counted with the handful of other emotions that would reemerge from their temporary slumber. Making the food reminded her of her old maids and cooks, and decorating the ballroom brought up memories of dances with her father and various other guests.

This would be her first New Year’s without the company of the Altean people. She didn’t doubt that it would all end up fine, but she was afraid of replacing her old memories with the new. No matter how close she was to the Voltron paladins, they could never compare to the people she had left behind, especially when not all of them were present.

Since Hunk had already reserved the first dining room, Allura had used the spare one, which was closer to the ballroom anyway. With a little help from Coran, she had set the table in the traditional Altean manner and hung great silver drapes and tapestries all around. She had never been much of a cook, but a recipe book was enough for her to make the dishes she wanted. They would never be as good as if an actual chef had prepared them, but they were at the very least edible.

"What are all of these?" Lance asked, peering closely at the dishes as he passed them by.

"Together they make up a traditional New Years' meal in Altea," she explained, beginning to portion everything and set it on plates to hand out. It wasn't long before everything was set and the gang could dig in.

"This is really good!" Hunk commented as he hunkered down.

"Agweed!" Pidge choked out with a full mouth.

Allura thanked them, but she only wished she could say the same. They probably only complimented the food because they had never tasted the real thing. The food was rather bland and unimpressive put together. Any Altean with a day more of experience could've done better. Hell, Hunk wasn't even Altean and he had done a better job than her earlier!

The only one who seemed to notice was Coran, but he had been polite and not said anything, which was somewhat worse than openly saying it was bad.

With such a foul mood, it was no wonder she barely touched her food. She couldn't take more than a couple bites without thinking of the much better alternatives. No one else realized what she was doing though, so she simply slipped her meal under the table to pick up later.

"What now?" Hunk puzzle once everyone had finished.

"Well, now it would be customary to have a dance, or a ball of sorts," Allura answered. She had been prepared for such an event, but she wasn't looking forward to it anymore. 

"What are we waiting for then?" Lance suddenly grew excited. He was out the door far before Allura had even left her seat.

The rest caught up soon, and when they did, Lance was already grooving despite the lack of music. "Let's get some jams on!" he shouted, enthusiastically swinging his hips from side to side.

"Is he always like this?" Pidge muttered, somewhat annoyed with his behavior.

"I had to sleep with ear plugs every night because he'd stay up late or wake up early and blast his music to do homework or something," Hunk told her. "I think he's been away from it all for far too long."

"Whatever the reason may be, let's boogie!" Coran jumped right in after turning the music on. Allura had seen him dance in the past on several occasions, but she would never get used to the wild and sharp moves he made. He had claimed that they were of his generation, but she had never seen anyone other than him make them.

"Hunk, come join us!" Coran invited.

"Oh, but I'm not very good at this stuff," Hunk tried to make an excuse, but Coran was having none of that.

"It's not so hard," he pulled Hunk onto the floor. "Just follow my example."

"Personally, I don't think that's a good idea," Pidge muttered, hanging back as well.

"Are you implying I can't _get down_?" Coran gasped dramatically, paying no mind to Pidge's comment and continuing his so-called dancing without any sign of stopping.

"C'mon, Pidge you need to get in here!" Lance called, gradually approaching if the music allowed him. Although Allura wasn't familiar with his moves, he was clearly gifted, especially when compared to everyone else.

"Oh, I don't dance," Pidge retaliated, moving closer to the wall.

"Nonsense!" Lance got closer. Pidge didn't bother moving, but maybe she should have because, without warning, Lance took her by the arm and dragged her onto the ballroom floor.

Allura watched as he wildly spun her around, even picking her off her feet at a couple points. Pidge was awkwardly trying to keep up, succumbing to the fact that she wasn't getting out of it. While avoiding stepping on any feet, she was able to make up for Lance's wide strides with her agility.

"Aren't you going to join us, Princess?" Coran asked, noticing Allura was yet to leave the sidelines.

Making up an excuse on the spot, Allura answered, "I'll be there soon. The feast just left me with a little of an unrestful stomach. 

Blindly accepting it, Coran shrugged and recommenced his dancing.

She was almost jealous looking at them. If she closed her eyes, she could remember how her father had done the same thing to her as a child. Coran would be dancing as always, and Hunk could easily have taken the place of some other Altean partygoer. She would do anything to go back, but now all she could do was watch and feel sorry for herself. This was supposed to be a happy occasion, but so far, she hadn't been able to accept the celebration as valid.

Without anyone noticing, she sat down by the stairs and stared blankly at the floor. She should've gone with Valentine's.


	6. The Ballroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith just entered the ballroom to ask everyone to be quiet. This ends somewhat successfully.

**Keith POV**

As hard as Keith tried, he finally gave in to the fact that he wouldn’t be able to sleep as long as the music kept playing. He had even tried hunting down Pidge’s headphones for some extra coverage, but Lance must’ve stolen them again and there was no way he was going to go check in _his_ room. Instead, he had resorted to covering his ears with the ends of his pillow. Unfortunately, the results were less than ideal.

He had nothing else to do, so he figured that he might as well go try and convince them to turn it down a notch. It was no use trying to make them stop, but maybe that way he could get some shut-eye for when they actually got to work the next day. Therefore, he dragged himself over to the origin of the noise: the ballroom.

From the crack in the door, he could make out everyone dancing. Keith recognized some of the music, so Allura must’ve gotten a hold of some Earth tunes at some point. Lance was twirling Pidge around in circles while Hunk awkwardly shimmied alongside Coran, who appeared to be doing something between the chicken and the hokie pokie.

Allura was watching them from afar. She had a smile on her face, but her eyes looked a little clouded, as if she was unsure about something. He was almost tempted to check up on her, but he decided against it. He had come for his own reasons, not to comfort anyone.

He hesitantly opened the door wide enough to slip in. No one had really noticed him, so he faked a cough to get their attention. Everyone turned to him at once, obviously confused as to why he was there.

“Have you decided to join us?” Lance questioned, though Keith could tell that he wasn’t seriously considering that possibility.

“You guys are too loud,” Keith cut to the chase. “Mind turning it down a bit?”

“Oh. Well, I suppose so,” Allura answered, nearing a box that Keith assumed was the source of the music. With a touch, the volume lowered.

“Thanks.” Keith meant to leave right then and there, but he noticed that Allura was no longer smiling. Her eyes lingered on the floor, then sharply turned away. Before he knew it, she had sat down and was openly sobbing.

Noticing right away, Coran stopped his so-called dancing and rushed over to her side. “Princess?”

The rest of the team soon joined the pair, Keith included. He might be classified as the _cold_ one, but he wasn’t _heartless_. Even so, he wasn’t a pro at the whole comforting deal (the closest he’d gotten to that was keeping Hunk calm during their weblum mission). Therefore, he could only stand awkwardly beside Pidge as the others patted Allura’s shoulders and tried to understand what she was so upset about.

“I’m sorry,” Allura managed to let out, beginning to wipe away at her tears without much success. “I’m overreacting.”

“But what’s causing you so much distress?” Coran tried to coax out the cause as he rubbed circles on her back.

“You know how we had that ball the day before Zarkon attacked Altea?” Allura began, accepting the tissue Hunk offered her. Coran merely nodded. “It’s one of my lasts memories of Altea, and one of the loveliest. Seeing the ballroom like this again reminds me of that ball. It reminds me of everything that I’ve lost and will never be able to experience again. Maybe, a little piece of me thinks that by making new memories, I’ll replace the old, and that ball is something I never want to forget. It’s just… not the same, you know?”

“Silly, Princess,” Coran smacked her on the head gently. “Don’t you see? You don’t need to replace anything. All you have to do is keep them _side by side_.”

Those few words seemed to affect Allura greatly because she immediately pulled Coran into a big hug. “Glad to know I actually _am_ your favorite,” she laughed.

Without a word, Coran took her hands and dragged her onto the dance floor. Now quite the dashing gentleman, he and Allura glided across the room in a unique waltz (Keith could only assume it was some sort of traditional Altean dance). Soon enough, the sound of the princess’ laughter could be heard.

Figuring it was safe to be a part of the action once more, Lance sprinted over and stole Allura from Coran, giving her a little spin. Miraculously, the princess didn’t shy away and instead went with it, leading the way.

Once they had neared the others, she let go of Lance and pulled Hunk over. Although he seemed uncomfortable at first, he soon got the hang of things and tried his best to keep up.

“Guess you’re next,” Pidge cheekily teased.

Realizing she was referring to him, Keith’s first instinct was to deny it. Logically though, she was right. He couldn’t remember the last time he had danced. It had probably been years ago, but even if it didn’t happen for another five, it’s be too soon. He decided it would now be the appropriate time to make his exit.

“Too late~” the princess appeared out of nowhere to sweep him off his feet, quite literally. It was always a shocker when the princess displayed her strength, but it was probably the first time Keith had cursed that ability.

Keeping him close to her with an iron grip, she took him across the entire ballroom with simple, yet lengthy strides. If his feet were on the ground, he doubted he would’ve been able to get across without falling at some point. He was positive she was keeping him for longer than the rest, but he could understand why. Otherwise, he probably would’ve made a run for it already.

After she finally put him down, she captured Pidge, who had falsely assumed she wouldn’t become one of the princess’ victims. As she was swept away as well, Keith turned tail and headed for the door. Unfortunately, Lance got to him first.

“Oh, no, no,” he stopped him. “You’re finally here, and you’re going to enjoy yourself.”

With Hunk and Coran soon coming up to surround him, Keith knew it was futile to resist. Still, he wasn’t much of a dancer and he wasn’t sure what he should be doing. Luckily, he didn’t have to think too hard about it because Lance whispered, “Just copy me if you need to.”

Taking his advice, Keith began to mirror Lance, as awkward as he felt. He would never admit it, but if Lance was better than him at anything, it was dancing. He was pretty sure only Lance was able to pull of those moves, but he tried his best.

He didn’t know when, but at some point, he began copying Hunk, and then Pidge, who had been pressured by Allura. He even got the hang of Allura’s dance, though he made sure to keep clear of Coran in case he accidentally knocked him out. What surprised him the most, though, was that he had actually begun to enjoy himself. Something about sucking along with everyone else (save Lance and Allura who stole the show) made him feel at ease. Soon enough, he was trying to move on his own, though he was sure it looked pretty lame.

Maybe if he had stuck with the copying, he wouldn’t’ve gotten so distracted and bumped into Coran. Like dominoes, everyone fell, with Coran taking down Pidge and Pidge pulling Allura as she desperately took hold of her dress. Then went Hunk, Lance, and finally Keith.

It was Keith who first chuckled, even if his arm was crushed by Allura’s leg and his hip was facing an unnatural angle underneath Pidge. Everyone soon joined in, gradually untangling themselves from each other.

“Thank you, thank you all,” Allura thanked once the laughter had settled down and they were al free. “This was well-deserved.”

“Oh we’re not done yet,” Lance suddenly burst, pulling the princess aside. “We still have my Fourth of July left.”

“Oh yeah, what was that again?”

“Tell me, have you ever seen a fireworks show?”


	7. Fireworks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance somehow avoids burning down the palace and instead makes Keith feel things. (Not Klance)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT KLANCE. This is a gen fic so don't be fooled by the chapter summary.

**Keith POV**

“Fireworks?” Allura raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Fireworks?” Keith repeated. “How’d you get those?”

“Pidge and Hunk made them,” Lance explained. “The materials needed are kind of universal so it wasn’t too hard. The 4th of July mostly consists of grills, campfires, and other patriotic acts, but since there doesn't seem to be any hotdogs in space, I just decorated the place and prepared a little fireworks show with their help," Lance explained, leading them down a hallway.

“Don’t you need air for them to work though?”

“Yeah?”

“So where the heck do you plan to blow these up?”

Lance didn’t respond. He only exchanged a mischievous grin with Pidge before leading the way to a place Keith knew too well: the pool elevator.

"Why are we here?" Keith grumbled. He had avoided that place ever since he had gotten stuck in there with Lance a while back, he had avoided that thing like the plague. Coran claimed it was fixed, but Keith wasn't so convinced. In fact, he wasn’t sure why he had followed the rest of the group, but he was there now so he figured he might as well stay.  
  
"We're gonna see the fireworks from in there," Lance nonchalantly said. "Our necks might be a little sore, but it's the only place that's high enough to shoot them in."   
  
"I'm pretty sure this is some sort of safety hazard..." Keith trailed off as the door opened.   
  
"Aw, the fireworks aren't that big. We'll be fine," Lance assured as the group began to huddle inside.   
  
Keith reluctantly joined them, awkwardly pressed between Coran and Pidge. Above them were some new hastily-made platforms with small rockets placed precariously on top of them. To top it all off, the walls of the elevator were adorned with the flags of various countries. Though it looked neat, Keith was positive they were a huge fire hazard. "This still doesn't look safe."  
  
"We took down the head of an intergalactic empire, give us a break," Lance rolled his eyes.   
  
Before Keith could argue any further, the door closed behind him and the lights turned off, leaving them in complete darkness. His initial panic was interrupted by the sound of sizzling and the first loud pop.   
  
Looking up, the first firework went off high over their heads, sending a shower of golden sparks down on them. The first rocket was soon followed by another, and then another. They were all pretty simple and similar to each other (probably due to Hunk and Pidge's limited expertise of them), but they were the first ones Keith had seen in years. They looked close enough to touch, and Allura even raised her hand at some point in wonder.   
  
"Coran, why have Alteans never come up with such a thing?" Allura's eyes shined. "Humans have actually beat us to something for once!"   
  
"Hey!" Lance exclaimed indignantly from across the elevator. "No belittling anything Earth-related during my holiday!"   
  
Keith didn't hear anything after that. He could barely see the last of the fireworks go off because his vision was too blurred by the tears that wouldn't stop coming.   
  
Soon, the lights turned back on. Keith did all he could to keep his face hidden from the others, desperately covering it with his hands, but it must've been obvious what he was up to because, just as they had done with Allura, the team immediately came over to comfort him.   
  
He always thought that he'd be the one supporting everyone else, not the other way around. So far, he hadn't done anything but bring everyone down with his badgering and stubbornness. He could now see that he needed this as much as anyone else. Sure, he didn't have as many great memories of Earth as the rest (hell, he wasn't even fully human!). But even so, he couldn't say that it had been all bad. He missed plenty about his home planet, and it was true that he needed a break. 

How naive of him to think he was the sole sane paladin. Of course everyone was as scared as he was! Of course they were worried about the future! Of course they didn't want to think about it! He had been a selfish prick and now the day was over with no hopes of redeeming himself. Tomorrow they’d have to get back to discussing serious business and it was too late to escape for a while.

“You know, it’s not too late to change your mind,” Hunk seemed to have read his thoughts.

“No, no,” he shook his head. “I don’t want to trouble anyone else.”

“Keith, shut up and tell us what you want,” Lance snapped. It might’ve sounded harsh to the others, but Keith knew that he was just trying to get straight to the point.

“Well,” Keith hesitantly spoke up, “I’ve always wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving, but I’m sure you’ve all had enough food already…”

“Is that it?” Pidge chuckled. “We’ll be hungry again tomorrow; just do it then.”

“Actually,” Keith shuffled his feet in embarrassment. He debated whether he should share the following information, but figuring it was too late to back out now, he slowly continued, “I’ve never had any hands-on experience with Thanksgiving, per se. I don’t think I can plan it out on my own, so-”

He was cut off by a slap on the back. “Don’t you worry about a thing; we’ve got you covered,” Lance winked.

“Huh?”

“I can take care of the food with Hunk, Coran and Allura can set up the table and decorations, and Pidge can make pilgrim costumes or something.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “Are those really necessary?”

“Nah, just giving you something to do,” Lance admitted.

“Meh, I’ll do it anyway,” she shrugged. “They’ll be pretty crappy, though.”

“I’m sure we have some spare silverware somewhere. That way we don’t have to wash anything right away,” Allura commented.

“So I do what, exactly?” Keith confusedly got a word in among the commotion.

“Just get some rest, we’ll take care of it,” Lance stated, giving him another forceful pat.

“But I asked for it. Shouldn’t I-”

“Don’t worry,” Allura insisted. “We’d be happy to do it.”

Keith would’ve argued some more, but he was honestly too tired to do so. Instead, he simply uttered a final, “Are you guys sure?”

“Positive,” Coran nodded.

With that, Keith finally left, feeling _fuller_ (if that made any sense). His constant worries of what was to come drifted to the back of his mind and were replaced with images of food and quality time with the team. It had been a while since he had done so, but used to imagine scenes of Thanksgiving together with his family, and what better family to celebrate it with than this one?

That night, his initial exhaustion seemed to evaporate the longer he stayed in bed. Whether that be because he had danced his exhaustion away or because of his newfound excitement was debatable.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, I decided to divide this into several chapters, one for each holiday. The POVs will be mentioned at the beginning since they don't directly correlate to the character's assigned holiday.
> 
> Art: @ruoqin on Tumblr


End file.
